Survivor of Ohio’s latest botched execution speaks out

Romell
Broom achieved a macabre notoriety this past month when he became the
first man to survive his date with the needle. Not just in Ohio, but
anywhere.

Broom,
a convicted rapist and murderer, endured more than two hours of poking
and stabbing before his execution was called off indefinitely. His
executioners could not find a vein to install intravenous shunts, and
they prodded him with needles at least 18 times to no avail, says Tim
Sweeney, his lawyer.

The eyes of the world are on Ohio now, and many are questioning our death-penalty apparatus.

It
was the first time an execution was called off while in progress, but
it wasn’t the first time our executioners unintentionally prolonged
their work.

In
2006, inmate Joseph Clark uttered “It don’t work” as his handlers
bungled an IV attachment and delayed his doom for more than an hour. In
2007, techs took close to two hours to find a vein and put down obese
inmate Christopher Newton; at one point, they granted Newton a restroom
break.

Broom lived
to tell his tale in an affidavit filed in Columbus federal court days
after surviving the death chamber. He described his time on a prep
table as two technicians struggled to find veins in his arms. Blood
gushed as they pricked him. At one point, “The female (technician) left
the room,” writes Broom. “The correction officer asked her if she was
OK. She responded ‘no’ and walked out.

“I
tried to assist them by helping to tie my own arm,” recounts Broom.
Witnesses said Broom turned on his side and flexed his arms to further
assist. A third tech came into the room, and the workers repeatedly
stabbed Broom in the arms, right ankle, lower right leg and right hand.
Broom said he bled, bruised and felt a needle hit his ankle bone.

When
Ohio prison director Terry Collins came into the room to tell Broom
that the execution would be postponed, “Collins indicated that he
appreciated my cooperation and noted my attempts to help the team.”

Complications
have confounded the Ohio execution team in one out of every 11 lethal
injections.

Prison officials have defended their employees, a group of
at least a dozen men and women whose anonymity remains protected by
court order.

In
the face of international scrutiny, prison officials continue to defend
Ohio’s death team. “We believe they do a job most people couldn’t do,”
says Julie Walburn, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of
Rehabilitation and Correction. “We believe they do it professionally
and appropriately.”

All
states that practice capital punishment maintain strict privacy
policies, with California ranking as the most open, says Richard
Dieter, executive director of the Death Penalty Information Center.
This shroud poses a fundamental problem for states looking to defend
their actions when questions arise. “With the fact that these mistakes
happen, the explanation of ‘Trust me, we’re doing this right,’ loses
credibility,” says Dieter. “There needs to be access, observation, to
see what’s claimed is what really happens.

“This
is about keeping control of public perception, that lethal injection is
antiseptic, a pain-free method,” he adds. “It could be said that a
firing squad or the guillotine are quicker and painless, but people
don’t want to go there.”

Critics of the death penalty say a lack of
public review fosters secrecy and denies accountability. The American
Civil Liberties Union of Ohio (ACLU) filed a publicrecords request in
an attempt to learn more about execution preparations, says Carrie
Davis, the ACLU’s lawyer. There’s no way to judge execution teams’
credentials or work history, and because the state doesn’t request
autopsies of the dead inmates, there’s no way to determine if the drugs
were administered correctly.

“These people are carrying out a statesanctioned killing in our name,” says Davis.

“These are our tax dollars at work. This is not a private enterprise. They are state employees.”

Problems
with lethal injection forced Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to temporarily delay
capital punishment in 2006 after an autopsy showed that the chemicals
had infiltrated the muscle tissue instead of the bloodstream of Angel
Diaz. New Jersey temporarily halted the death penalty as it revised its
execution procedures, but abolished the practice in 2007 after a larger
debate on capital punishment. Maryland, California and North Carolina
have frozen their systems as they debate policy.

Ohio
is the only state that has a law that requires a quick and painless
execution, and Sweeney argues the state hasn’t fulfilled that
requirement.

“I
think there are serious questions of whether the state is using the
right people to carry out a relatively complex procedure,” he says. “If
the drug isn’t administered properly, the inmate will assuredly be
tortured to death.”

Gov. Ted Strickland has postponed Ohio’s next two executions until spring 2010 so an alternative protocol can be developed.

DAMIAN GUEVARA writes for Cleveland Scene, where a longer version of this story first appeared.